AI shockwaves hammered markets Monday, and crypto felt the spillover.
What happened
- Anthropic said its Claude code can automate COBOL modernization — the decades-old language that still runs critical systems across finance, airlines and government. “COBOL is everywhere,” Anthropic noted, adding it “handles an estimated 95% of ATM transactions in the U.S.” and that the institutional knowledge to maintain those systems has largely retired.
- Anthropic argued tools like Claude Code can “automate the exploration and analysis phases that consume most of the effort in COBOL modernization,” a claim that threatened the large consulting and mainframe services ecosystem.
Why it mattered
- IBM — a major beneficiary of COBOL modernization work — plunged about 11.2% late in the session, as investors priced in the risk that AI could automate large swathes of legacy-system work that once required huge consultant teams.
- AI-related routs in software and private equity pulled the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq down more than 1%. “It’s becoming increasingly clear how pivotal the times we are in right now truly are,” The Kobeissi Letter wrote.
How crypto reacted
- Crypto tracked the broader tech selloff tightly. Bitcoin slid roughly 5% over 24 hours to about $64,000, while ether and solana fell by similar amounts and many major tokens moved toward retesting the Feb. 5 panic lows.
- Public crypto and fintech stocks also fell: Coinbase, MicroStrategy, Circle and Galaxy Digital dropped in the 4%–7% range.
Winners in the chaos
- A few bitcoin miners — those positioning themselves to run AI infrastructure — bucked the decline. IREN led gains at +5%, Cipher Mining +3.4%, CleanSpark +1.5% and Hut 8 +0.7%.
Other market moves
- Precious metals climbed Monday, with gold reported up 3.2% to $5,243 per ounce and silver up 6.5% to $87.69.
Takeaway for crypto investors
- The episode underscores how closely crypto has become correlated with broader tech and AI narratives. Breakthroughs that threaten legacy service revenue can trigger broad risk-off moves in equities and digital assets alike — but miners and infrastructure players leaning into AI exposure may be among the few beneficiaries in such selling events.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
